Finding Hope
by JulieM
Summary: When one of their own need help, the JAG staff answer the call…But will Mac’s special abilities kickin in time? COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Finding Hope

Spoilers: None, really. Could occur at any point during the JAG timeline, from Alan Mattoni's first appearance in 'The People v. Rabb' until 'Lifeline'…

Summary: When one of their own need help, the JAG staff answer the call…But will Mac's special abilities kick-in in time?

Rating: I'm no good at this but…hmmm…K?

Category: Harm/Mac UST. The ending does give some hope for the future, though…Basically feel-good fluff, a story like one during JAG's early years, with Harm and Mac working together to get the job done.

Disclaimer: JAG does not belong to me, nor do I make any money from what I write. I just get to exercise my imagination so that it doesn't get too out of control!

OOOO

Part 1

Harm, Mac and Alan Mattoni stood at attention in front of their CO, Admiral AJ Chegwidden.

"At ease…"

They all stood down, now happy to bask in the near glow that radiated from the Admiral.

"Here's to a job well done," he placed his personal stamp and signature on the document covering the entirety of their investigation. And an extensive investigation it was, too. It had been full of surprises and twists from the beginning to the end. Despite this, and the resulting havoc it had wreaked upon their 'liberty' time outside of office hours, they had succeeded in seeing this reach the eventual ending that they had been hoping for.

"Now that the world has resumed turning and all is right within this office once more, it is my great pleasure to tell all three of you that JAG has officially hit a slump in its caseload…By the way, the SECNAV wished me to express his sincere gratitude for handling this tricky matter so professionally."

All three officers had to fight to keep the corners of their mouths from being tweaked upwards. The humor in their CO's voice was obvious. The SECNAV had been riding them all pretty hard about this case (it was what he had described as 'a personal matter'; involving his own interests) and by the term 'handling it professionally,' it was clear that what the SECNAV really meant was 'successfully'.

"Anyway, in the meantime, we will only have a few petty matters to take care of today before the weekend…" AJ was cut off by the sound of the intercom buzzing.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Jen Coates' voice filtered through, "I know you didn't want to be disturbed, but Commander Mattoni's wife has just been on the phone and she expressed that it was very important that he call her back, ASAP."

All three officers covertly checked out their CO's immediate response to this, Mattoni with more trepidation than the others. He was in luck, however, because little would be able to shatter the Admiral's good mood today.

"Thank you, petty officer," he thanked Jen, before turning to Mattoni, "Well, I was basically finished talking anyway. Commander, go ahead and call your other half back. Dismissed."

"Aye, Sir. Thank you," Alan snapped off a salute before retreating from the office.

Harm and Mac didn't have the chance to think any more about the Admiral's jovial mood, for he launched back into his talk from where he left off and after an uneventful meeting, dismissed the two of them, as well. As they were entering their respective offices, both caught a glimpse of Mattoni deeply engaged in a phone conversation in his office.

OOOO

"What do you mean she's gone?" Alan asked his wife, his mind stupefied by her news.

"Janet and Peter woke up this morning and her bed was empty. Her coat was gone, her boots were gone and the front door to the cabin was wide open."

"How long has it been?"

"Around five hours."

"Five hours! She's only four years old! How far could she have wandered?"

"She's not on the premises and the whole place does look out onto a national forest."

"And what's being done?"

"There have been trackers out since breakfast, but it's been raining heavily and the resort is so busy, they haven't been able to find anything to suggest that Hope has been there. But they're going to be bringing in some tracking dogs within the next hour and they're hopeful that they'll find her."

"Okay," Alan nodded, reluctantly backing down for now, "Keep me posted."

OOOO

Over the next couple of hours, Alan could only sit helplessly, his paperwork sitting untouched, praying for his brother, sister-in-law and especially his niece and Godchild.

The call from his wife eventually stunned him out of his thoughts.

"Alan, you need to come home…Peter and Janet have asked for our help, we have to drive up there this afternoon."

"Is there any news?" Alan asked, his chest suddenly feeling restricted.

"No," his wife told him, "they haven't been able to find her, even with the dog teams. But they've taken Peter and Janet into custody and Peter says they're asking him all sorts of questions…He thinks you need to be there to convince them to keep sending out the search teams."

"I'll be home as soon as I can. Pack us up some clothes and supplies and we'll head straight there when I get home," Alan didn't hesitate for a second in jumping into action.

OOOO

Mac absently noted Alan Mattoni head back into the Admiral's office, but did not see him leave the bullpen, because Admiral Chegwidden was by that time already standing in her doorway. He quickly waived her down as she went to stand at attention, telling her, "At ease. Since your caseload is so light as of today, I just wanted to pass on a couple more matters that need to be taken care of. They're both quite light and I think you should be able to wrap them up with just a few phone calls."

"Of course, Sir," she nodded, "May I ask, are these the briefs that Commander Mattoni was handling?"

"That's correct," AJ nodded, "He's had a family issue requiring his immediate attention and he sends his apologies for having to resort to handing them off to you.

"It's no problem, Sir," Mac shook her head, already glancing through the files, "They shouldn't take much extra work at all and I've nearly got everything of my own wrapped up, anyway."

"Good," AJ nodded, "Carry on, Colonel."

OOOO

As the afternoon wore on, activity in the bullpen wound down. By 1430, most of the officers were finished with their work and so were either chatting together in groups or watching ZNN on the television.

Mac approached Harriet, who stood beside Bud, watching the tv screen.

"Bet you two are ready for the weekend," she commented to them, sipping the cup of coffee she had just retrieved from the break room.

"Ready and eager, Ma'am," Harriet nodded, asking Mac, "How about you, Ma'am?"

"Sure am," Mac expressed, enthusiastically.

"Am what?" Harm asked, approaching them from the direction of his office.

Harriet explained what they had been talking about. Then she told him about her and Bud's plans to get together with Harriet's parents, who were in town visiting.

"Hey, what's going on in Ranger's Creek?" Harm asked, recognizing the scenes on the television screen, referring to what Bud and Harriet had been watching before his and Mac's arrival.

"Oh, it's just awful," Harriet told him, "A little girl is missing from a lodge resort in Virginia."

"Apparently, she just wandered out by herself early this morning while her family were still asleep," Bud added.

They all watched for a little while longer, all expressing their sadness and horror at such an occurrence, when the Admiral exited his office. They all snapped to, as one, but their CO didn't even seem to notice that they were all standing around, not doing anything, mingling in the bullpen. They soon understood that he had other matters weighing on his mind.

OOOO


	2. Chapter 2

OOOO

From part 1…

They all watched for a little while longer, all expressing their sadness and horror at such an occurrence, when the Admiral exited his office. They all snapped to, as one, but their CO didn't even seem to notice that they were all standing around, not doing anything, mingling in the bullpen. They soon understood that he had other matters weighing on his mind.

Part 2

"As you all know, Commander Mattoni stepped out earlier toady to take care of a personal matter. Within the past five minutes he has been in touch by phone with an update on the matter, which I requested of him before he left. And the specifics of the matter have led him to request the help of his fellow officers and his friends in this office. I'm sure you're all familiar with the situation unfolding at Ranger's Creek Wilderness Retreat in Virginia…Well, the child involved is his four-year-old niece and Godchild. She's been missing since around 0400 hours this morning and no trace of her has been found since."

There were some softly mumbled exclamations as he spoke, but it never grew out of his control, so AJ didn't stop speaking.

"The rain that started shortly after 0600 hours has meant that both experienced trackers and tracking dogs have seemingly nothing to work with. The approach has now been turned from searching outside the resort, to searching within it. All guests, including the Mattonis are being detained and questioned. The Commander feels that this is a mistake. He knows, at the very least, that his family have nothing to hide, but he feels that detracting from the search going on outside the retreat is the wrong way to go. That is where we come in. Along with two special search and rescue teams being sent by the SECNAV, we are going to join in with the teams still searching the forest. There are a couple of officers who I would like to remain as a JAG presence at the resort compound. Lieutenant Roberts, Lieutenant Simms-Roberts, I'd like you two to remain with the Mattoni family and help the Commander take care of and safe guard the family's interests during this investigation. Roberts, I know how you have a knack for rooting out hidden information. If anything lies hidden within that compound, I want you to find it…"

And both Bud and Harriet knew without a doubt that the Admiral wasn't simply sidelining them, he had confidence in their unique talents, so was involving them in the most practical way possible.

"This internal search will commence as soon as we arrive and will continue as long as is needed, in tandem with the one beginning at first light tomorrow, outside the confines of the resort. This way, we will provide as much support and assistance as we can, to help bring the commander's niece in unharmed, before the predicted harsh weather moves in, this weekend. Take the next hour and a half to put any affairs you may have ongoing in order. We will reconvene here, once I have chartered a bus to take us there, in ninety minutes, people."

"Aye, Sir!"

OOOO

When four-year-old Hope Eleanor Mattoni had stepped out of the cabin rented by her parents that morning, the only thing on her mind was finding the cute squirrels in the trees that she had spent the previous morning watching, with her Mom, Dad and older brother and sister. It didn't even enter her mind that her parents might be upset with her for leaving the cabin without their permission…or that she could get lost after getting caught up in her search for wildlife…or that it would rain within two hours of her stepping beyond the cabin decking. Luckily, as her Dad had made such a big song and dance of getting the children all outfitted 'to go rambling' the day before, she made sure to do just the same thing to recreate the excitement and pulled on her pink insulated, hooded jacket and Wellington boots that had been bought especially for their holiday here. But she had been in such a rush to go and find the furry woodland creatures she had dreamt about all night that she hadn't even changed out of her fluffy purple pajamas before pulling on her coat and wellies. The air outside was slightly cool, not just because the sun was only just making an appearance, but also because of the approaching rainstorm. Hope didn't give this a thought, she simply took the path leading off towards the nearby forest as fast as her little legs would carry her.

OOOO

In the bus on the way to the wilderness retreat, the Admiral again went into the two-pronged approach they would be adopting. Mostly, he focused on relaying instructions to Bud and Harriet, who would be dealing with the investigation within the retreat, away from the rest of the team. The others already had their military training in survival and search and rescue tactics, so anything the Admiral had to say to them basically elaborated upon the details of the case. They arrived a little after 1750. Because there was limited daylight left, they concentrated on getting up to speed with the latest details in the search so far.

"How far could a four-year-old little girl go in the time she's been missing?" Harm asked the person in charge of the team of experts the SECNAV had assembled.

"In circumstances such as these, we really can't make the mistake of assuming how far she will have gone," he was told, "We will of course set a perimeter around the search area, but we won't be able to predict how far away she could be. With a child her age, the terrain and the stormy weather, she's unlikely to be walking in a straight line. There's no telling how far away she could be, so we're going to have our work cut out for us checking every inch of the forest within our perimeter. Pair that with the fact that there's severe bad weather moving in, it's imperative that we have everything planned and ready to go at first light tomorrow morning."

Harm, Mac and the other officers listened, their expressions growing similarly grave.

OOOO

"You did inform my brother and his wife of their right to have an attorney present, didn't you?" Alan Mattoni demanded of the leading investigator, his CO present and backing him up.

"We only asked them a couple of questions, Commander," he was told, dismissively.

"And we know exactly what those questions were implying," Alan spat, "What were you thinking? Their four-year-old child is missing!"

"We need to cover all of our bases, Commander. Surely you understand that…"

Here, the Admiral broke in barely able to suppress his rage. He was a formidable presence.

"If you were just trying to 'cover your bases,' detective," his demeanor was even more impressive than Mattoni's, "then you wouldn't jeopardize your investigation by violating the Mattonis civil rights. Had anything come of the interviews you and your colleagues conducted, you'd have to battle to keep the evidence from getting thrown out of court. Now, the Mattonis' new legal representative, Lieutenant Roberts, _will_ be involved in the on-going investigation, as will Lieutenant Simms-Roberts, who will be acting as their family liaison officer. Any and all evidence _will_ be shared with both of them, do I make myself understood?"

His tone left no room for argument and the detective nodded, slowly.

"Thank you, Sir," Alan thanked his CO, very visibly relieved that he now had some help in this uphill battle.

"No need," AJ assured him, "I understand how difficult this is for you and your family, without all of the interference. Commander, know this; your friends and fellow officers aren't going to let anything divert them from taking the right direction in finding your niece."

OOOO


	3. Chapter 3

OOOO

Part 3…

They all found out exactly why so many resources had been diverted from the search and rescue operation. Not only the professional trackers but also the tracking dogs had been unable to pick up any sign of the child outside the Mattoni's cabin. The convening authorities had now decided that the child had probably been accosted and taken by an individual inside the retreat. But each day, many families left the retreat to return home while others arrived in their place. Not only did they need to know who amongst the many had already been here and who had not, but also had to find who had departed since that morning, especially those whose departure coincided with Hope's disappearance. But Harm was absolutely sure that they could not discount the possibility that the child was lost within the forest, especially given the evidence.

"What are you thinking?" Mac asked him, as he paced around the deck of the Mattoni cabin.

"Well," Harm explained, "we've been told that no trace of the little girl was found in the surrounding area, except…"

"Except here on the deck and inside the cabin," Mac caught onto his thinking, "everywhere exposed to the heavy rain."

"If she had wandered somewhere around the compound that wasn't exposed to rain," Harm nodded, "then the dogs would have picked it up."

"But they didn't," Mac finished up.

Just then, the group was called back together so that a plan of action could be formulated for the next day. When the Admiral was done doing so, he requested, "Colonel MacKenzie, could you stay behind? I would like to have a word. The rest of you, dismissed."

Mac was curious, but thought she had some idea about what it was the Admiral wanted to talk to her about.

"What are your gut instincts about this, Colonel?" He asked her.

Okay, he didn't exactly reveal his hand straight away, but Mac was certain that he would.

"Commander Rabb and I were talking about this; if Hope had wandered away to another part of the compound and was then abducted, we would have found some sign of her, because many areas are sheltered from the rain. I'm convinced that she wandered into the forest and got lost, Sir."

The Admiral nodded in agreement, "There's plenty in a big forest that can tempt a little girl; flowers and lots of woodland animals. A holiday retreat compound however is more ambiguous, even to a child. Children are always told by their parents to stay away from strangers. If you were a child, would you choose somewhere where you might possibly meet with a stranger, or somewhere secluded, filled with attractive animals, but seemingly no people?"

"Somewhere secluded, Sir," Mac told him.

"I think it's a big mistake to draw resources away from the search and rescue," AJ continued, "Of course, they need to consider every possibility and that will naturally spread their resources thin…"

"That's where we can help, Sir. If she's out there, we're more likely to find her with the large teams the SECNAV sent to aid us."

"Colonel," AJ finally spoke what he had been thinking about, "I don't even presume to understand what those incidents were when the Commander and your little sister were missing…but we saw it again when you worked alongside Commander Turner. Colonel, I still see it as a potentially useful tool in helping us in locating that little girl."

"But Sir," Mac protested, "In those cases, I had a personal involvement…and I've received none of the usual…impulses…that I did with those situations."

"But time is of the essence," AJ pointed out, "the child is already facing one night out in the open, exposed to the elements. With the bad weather that is forecasted for tomorrow, another night will dramatically reduce her chances of coming through this."

Mac knew he was right.

"I've already spoken to Commander Mattoni and he and the family are okay with us looking inside the cabin, he's eager that you try…All that he requests is that you try."

Mac nodded and followed her CO when he led the way into the cabin. The Mattonis were now been accommodated elsewhere, closer to where the command center had been set up, so they were close to the action if any news came through.

Mac was distinctly uneasy as they walked into the cabin that had now been searched by forensics. As they walked along to the child's room, past the other bedrooms, she noted how all of the beds were still unmade, dirty laundry left on the floor. It was like time itself had stopped as soon as this family had found their youngest member was missing from her bed. The child's bedroom was similar in appearance. The duvet was thrown back and the teddy bears were left behind.

"Do you know, are there any of the stuffed toys missing?" she asked AJ.

"I don't think so, but I'll check again with the commander," he replied, "I'm sure he said that his brother checked the room and that none of Hope's belongings were missing apart from her hooded jacket and Wellington boots.

"At least she has some weather-proof clothes," Mac sighed, wondering whether to try touching anything, but feeling uneasy about doing so, "Thank god…but what else was she wearing?"

"Pajamas," the Admiral told her, grimly.

Mac finally steeled herself and picked up a fleece blanket from the bed, but felt nothing.

"Well, if this is her security blanket, she had to be occupied in order to leave it behind. It means she had a reason for leaving and not telling her parents…"

AJ nodded.

"C'mon," he told her, "I think I have a couple more questions to ask Commander Mattoni…"

OOOO

Hope had shuddered, not from the feeling of the heavy pour of rain but from the sudden stab of realization that she had no idea how to get back to the cabin. She had gotten well and truly lost. For the first hour, she stifled the tears as she tried to find something that looked familiar or catch sight of the cabins. Next, she tried going back the way she thought she had come, but that didn't work, either. By then, she was really desperate, so she tried to follow a pretty colored bird that seemed to look friendly. She was under the illusion that it was helping her to find her way home. Soon, it had disappeared and she was about to contemplate just sitting down to cry when her booted foot landed on some unstable ground. Her leg slid out from under her and before she knew what was happening, she was tumbling down a hillside. It seemed to last for ages, but just when she had seemed to be slowing, her ankle hit an exposed rock, hard. Despite her youth, her bones didn't simply 'bend' this time and she sat up cradling her fractured ankle once she came to a full stop. With the drone of the rain and the sounds of the forest creatures, nobody heard her cries of pain.

OOOO


	4. Chapter 4

OOOO

Part 4

"Cocoa?" Harm asked, as he and Mac stood at the impromptu mess hall set up on the compound.

All personnel had been accommodated in tents and although most people were now in bed for the night, a few remained.

Like Harm, Mac couldn't sleep.

"Thanks."

"So, what was the Admiral asking you about?"

"My psychic abilities…if that is even what they are…"

"He wants you to find the little girl using your…abilities?"

"Yep and he even took me to the child's room in the cabin."

"What happened?"

"I struck out…I didn't sense a thing."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Harm reassured her, "You can't just switch it on and off at will. Give it some time."

"It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do," she revealed, "stand there and tell Mattoni that I couldn't feel anything."

They were both silent as they both tried not to ponder what this could possibly mean for Hope Mattoni. Why wasn't Mac sensing her or her location?

"Tomorrow's another day," Harm spoke up again, "At least the weather is warm, tonight. C'mon, let's turn in."

They both finished their cocoa and retired for the night.

OOOO

Hope had managed to crawl through the darkness on her hands and knees and find shelter in the large recess of an old tree. It kept her warm and sheltered, but she had lost the boot on her injured foot in the process. Her ankle throbbed and she barely slept as hour after hour passed, drifting in and out of painful delirium.

OOOO

"Ma'am, can I help you?" Mac asked the wandering civilian as she reported for duty, the next morning. She had split ways with Harriet, with whom she had shared a two-man tent the night before.

"Are you part of the search team?" the shaky-looking woman requested. Mac assumed that she must be the child's mother, judging by her shocked, sleep-deprived appearance.

"I am…Can I do anything for you, Ma'am?" Mac confirmed.

"Can you give this to whoever is in charge of the search? It's Hope's blanket. She can't… she can't sleep without it…"

"I'll give this to Admiral Chegwidden," Mac assured her, "and I speak for the rest of the team when I say that we won't stop until we find her."

"Thank you," the woman near-whispered before disappearing in the direction she had come in.

For a minute, Mac just stood there, closing her eyes and seeing if anything came to her, while she was holding the blanket she had seen in the cabin yesterday. But nothing did.

She reported in, giving the blanket to the Admiral before going to collect her equipment. To her credit, she did not seem to be the only one affected by the sight of the blanket. Even the Admiral seemed a bit introspective.

"You okay?" Harm asked her, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," she nodded, "just more determined than ever that we're going to cover every inch of ground there is before this storm moves in."

"Well said, Colonel," AJ spoke up, "Okay everybody, we all know what we have to do today. We're on teams of two, take a marker from the board and pick up the corresponding map from the table. This will be your search area. Make sure you're well stocked with fluids and start to make your way to your first search quadrant. The first check in will begin in 15 minutes."

They all gathered their gear together, joined up with a search buddy and chose their respective areas to search.

"Where do you say we go for, Mac?" Harm asked, letting her choose.

Mac didn't take any time to think, just stuck her hand out and grabbed the first marker her eyes came upon. They collected all of their information, topped up their canteens and began to make their way to the first quadrant on their map.

Fifteen minutes later and they were approximately a quarter of the way there. As the phonetic name assigned to them was called over the radio, they reported in to base command. Then they continued towards their allocated search area.

"Why do you think she would have come all of the way out here?" Harm asked, curiously.

"The admiral thought maybe because of the animals," she told him, "and he said something else that really made sense. When you were a kid, how often did your Mom tell you not to wander off in crowds?"

"All the time," Harm told her, revealing, "I had a talent for it."

"And she told you this why?" Mac asked again.

"Uh, because she wouldn't be able to see me and I'd get lost."

"How about if that were during more recent times? Why don't parents want their children out of their sight these days?"

"Because of all of the perverts around today…" Harm said, without even having to think of it.

"Stranger danger," Mac nodded, in confirmation, "Okay, how about the dangers that can befall you in the forest?"

Harm took a minute to think, then came up with, "I'm sure she must have. In fact, she almost certainly did, because I had the know-how once I was old enough to play out on my own…but I don't actually recall an incident where she was telling me not to wander off into the woods, because I could get hurt."

"Okay," Mac nodded, "so if you were a child and you were on your own, faced with the choice of heading towards a large compound where you might run into dangerous strangers or into a deserted woods where there were lots of cute animals playing, where would you head?"

"Assuming that I was a four-year-old girl," Harm chuckled, "into the woods."

"Exactly," Mac pointed out, "In comparison to telling children about stranger danger, safety while trekking in the woods is much further down the 'to-do-list.' But that's becoming the way of the world, nowadays. Cities are getting bigger, more urban and children are losing their sense of survival in more rural surroundings."

"But this little girl is only four-years-old," Harm pointed out, "she probably won't know much about how to take care of herself while out in these surroundings."

"That's why we have to find her quickly, before the storm moves in," Mac surmised, "If only I could get this damn six-sense, or whatever it is, to work!"

"Do you think she really got this far?" Harm asked.

"She could have," Mac nodded, considering it, "especially if she's panicked. The human body, even an infant one, is capable of amazing feats when the adrenaline is pumping. And the terrain isn't too tough. It's just a bit slippery with all of the rain we've been having."

As if the illustrate her point, Mac's foot slid and she landed on her knees. Harm immediately grabbed her arm and went to help her back up. By the time she was on her feet again, her facial expression had become blank, almost reverent.

"What is it Mac?" he asked, concerned, "Are you hurt?"

Mac just shook her head. It had been fleeting, she had barely had a chance to register the image that had flashed in front of her eyes and she was not so sure if the result that registered with her retina had done so accurately.

"I think…I think I saw…sensed…something."

"What was it?"

That was harder to answer. The single flash of imagery had been of the leaf-littered floor of the forest, not unlike the one beneath their feet. But this time, the leaf-litter was wet, puddles were forming and rain came down lightly. But there was something more to it, something within the litter…Pink? It was a flash of pink, almost like something hidden in the leaves. And there was something more about that patch of pink; it was shiny, almost as if it was a puddle of pink rain. What on earth did that mean? When she had located Harm, she had been indicated to a certain position on a map. She had been able to sense that he was still alive, sense his very life's pulse. How come she had not sensed that now? Was she really seeing something important to finding the child, or something completely unrelated?

And that's when another scary thought came; this flash of pink was not a natural shade, like a sea-shell or a fruit. It was something very much manufactured, man-made. And pink was a very popular color with little girls. This little girl was missing in a pink jacket…

OOOO


	5. Chapter 5

OOOO

Part 5

Harriet sat with the Mattoni family and the commander brought everyone up to speed on how the investigation was going so far. He explained that now the last searchers were in place and that they would search their designated area, bit by bit to find Hope. If they found nothing, then they would widen the search perimeter and begin again. But Janet, his sister-in-law interrupted him and asked him about the person he had mentioned who had tried to help out last night.

"This psychic you had look in Hope's room, Alan…what exactly did she tell you? What were her words?"

"First of all, she isn't a psychic…she just has some abilities sometimes that help to point her in the right direction."

"Okay, she's not a psychic…but is she reliable?"

"She is," Alan nodded, "I'd stake my own life on her ability. She's already saved one of our own in a time of crisis. Call her ability what you want, but she is a person who knows her gut instincts and the majority of the time, she's right."

"Wait, your CO approved this before, as well? He's pretty open minded," Alan's brother Peter broke in, "if he's willing to bring in a psychic to consult in official JAG business…"

"Again, she's not a psychic," Alan insisted, "she's actually one of our officers, a Marine Lieutenant Colonel and she's also added her own insight into one of her cases in order to turn up a missing officer."

He didn't mention that that had been dead officer.

"She seems to have a talent in missing person cases," Harriet added, gently, "When the little girl she was mentoring went missing on her Grandparents farm, she was able to find her, even though she was unfamiliar with the area."

"That's right," Alan noted, "and just because she hasn't felt anything just yet, it doesn't mean she won't. It took her a while to warm up when Chloe was missing. Being at the location helped, too."

"I'm sure that if Hope's anywhere nearby to the colonel, she'll find your daughter," Harriet soothed the emotionally fraught mother, "JAG has many fine officers and I'm sure that between them and the S & R officers sent by the SECNAV, Hope will be home again, soon."

OOOO

AJ wiped the sweat from his brow and put his hat back on. Despite the storm approaching, the air was still quite warm. However, it was predicted that they had only a few more hours left before the storm moved in and they would be forced to pull all of their personnel in. He only hoped that they would find Hope Mattoni in time.

OOOO

Bud made his way to the cabin where his wife was taking care of the Mattonis. He knocked once on the door and stood back to wait. As he expected, it was Harriet who answered the door.

"Any news?" she asked quietly.

"Not yet," Bud shook his head, "I haven't heard back from the Admiral yet, but I should do within the next half-hour. But detective Stowe did tell me that he's finished questioning residents at the retreat, now. They should be leaving soon. He's happy that none of them will be of any further use to this investigation."

"Do you think he's realized his error in scaling back the search and rescue effort, now?" Harriet asked.

"Probably," Bud noted, "but he'd never say anything about it to me. I was wondering if you could ask the Mattonis something for me?"

"Sure," Harriet nodded, "What do you need to know?"

"Could you ask them for an account of their activities on Wednesday?" Bud requested, "Did they socialize with any other families, spend time with any other people or just run into them during the passage of the day?"

"I'll get back to you," Harriet nodded and went inside to speak to the family.

OOOO

"Any news, Lieutenant Roberts?" AJ spoke into his radio, as he checked in with base command.

"Just one thing, Sir," Bud spoke up, having requested to talk with the Admiral ten minutes before, "Mr. and Mrs. Mattoni said that they spent Wednesday alone with all three of their children. They spent the morning walking through the forest, but in the afternoon it rained and they spent it indoors. Sir, I'm willing to bet that Hope enjoyed the experience more than anyone else realized. Mr. Mattoni said she was really taken with all of the squirrels in the forest. I think she went back looking for them yesterday morning."

"You're probably right," AJ surmised, "Have you told detective Stowe about this?"

"Already done, sir," Bud informed him, "and he's about to send his men back out, once they've synchronized their plans with the base command. They'll take the search perimeter out another three miles. It's a good precaution, just in case Hope has gotten further away than any of us anticipated."

That was why he had chosen Bud for this task, the Admiral thought to himself, later on. Not only was he enthusiastic and energetic in his attitude, but he was also diplomatic about it, which helped whenever an outside agency was involved.

OOOO

Hope just about managed to garner the energy to raise her head when she heard the voices calling her name. But her mind had been playing tricks on her all night and she wasn't convinced that this time was real. She couldn't have moved anyway, the pain in her ankle was just too severe and struggling through the night with it had totally sapped her energy. Her throat felt like sandpaper and her lips were dry and cracked, so she didn't even attempt to use them. She closed her eyes again and drifted off.

OOOO

"Fifty minutes and counting, people," AJ called into his radio, letting everyone know that the storm was edging perilously closer, despite being further behind schedule than they had predicted. The reprieve had seemed heaven-sent when they had thought they were out of time, but even with the stay of execution, they had still managed to find nothing. The sky was now dark and threatening, but AJ didn't want to order them in until he absolutely had to. He just had to put it off as long as possible; every extra minute could make the difference.

The Naval helicopter had long since stopped circling above the trees. The weather was cold and even all the S & R staff-members were now not showing up well on the thermal imaging, they were that cold. Things were definitely not looking good for the child, now facing a race against time on two fronts.

OOOO


	6. Chapter 6

OOOO

Part 6

"Damn it!" Mac cursed loudly, as she and Harm fought their way through the driving rain, "The Admiral's going to call us in at any minute."

"Let's check back over in that quadrant," Harm suggested, pointing off to his left.

"No," Mac shook her head, looking at the map, "we've already re-checked there…How about this one? The rain had started to come on when we checked here, so maybe we missed something…"

"I don't see how," Harm commented, "but okay. It's the best plan we've got."

They were now getting desperate and they both knew it. They were only a couple of notches away from frantic.

Wiping the rain and her soaking hair out of her eyes, Mac joined Harm, starting to carry out a visual scan. Letting her subconscious take her wherever it wanted, Mac wandered towards a different quadrant in their search area than the one they had agreed upon.

"Mac," Harm shouted, "Wait up, the last thing we need just now is to get split up…I thought we were checking here…where are you going?"

Mac couldn't have told him, she simply shook her head, wordlessly, continuing to scan the ground and the surrounding foliage.

Harm made himself busy by doing a manual search of a massive patch of thicket.

"Damn it!" he cursed loudly, when he caught his hand on a thorny creeper.

"You okay?" Mac asked, turning to look at him.

"Just a thorn," he told her, as she took his cold, numb hand in hers to check it, "Don't worry, I'm fine…Let's just keep looking."

They carried on, shouting Hope's name loudly and few good times.

Harm carried on, but Mac's voice died in her throat as her eyes flickered past, then returned to a vaguely familiar image.

"Harm!" Mac summoned her partner urgently even as she took off and ran to the patch of pink showing through the thick layers of leaves. Harm quickly joined her and they both clawed through the leaf-littler, only to end up with a lone Wellington boot and no child.

OOOO

AJ's radio burst to life with the voice of his top JAG lawyer. He quickly grabbed the receiver and replied, acknowledging that he was receiving.

"We've found her Wellington boot, Admiral…We can't see the child, yet, but we're hoping that she might be somewhere nearby…The boot seems to have been here some time, but we're not sure why the child would have continued on without it. There's quite a steep slope nearby, maybe she lost it climbing down. We're going to search the area more thoroughly, just now."

"Very good," AJ told him, "Keep me updated."

OOOO

Bud listened as the massage relayed across the radio. This is what they had all been hoping for, but he was unsure if he should go and inform Harriet and the Mattonis, or stay here and keep tabs on the situation. In the end, he decided to give it fifteen minutes and then go and inform them.

OOOO

"Do four-year-olds climb trees, Harm?" Mac asked her partner as they feverishly searched the area.

"I doubt it," Harm surmised, "Plus she's down a boot. I don't think we'll find her sitting in a tree…"

He had a point, but at that second her gaze fell upon a wizened old tree, one with a gnarled, twisted thick trunk and in that instant, she just knew. Moving away from their course at a right angle, she hurried towards the tree, ignoring Harm's questions behind her.

"It really throws me when you do that…" he commented, but followed her at a brisk pace.

Mac checked the brush around the base of the tree and found nothing, but began to move around the trunk. Once she got around it, she immediately knew that this was where she was supposed to look, when she saw a small hole in the trunk, where the tree was rotting away. Moving further around, she found a much bigger recess, complete with a tree pixie inside.

"Harm!" she called, urgently, yanking off her pack, "She's here. I've found her!"

Harm was at her side in a second, dropping down beside her as she checked the little girl over.

"Hope…Hope, can you open your eyes for us? Open your eyes, honey, we're here to help you and get you home…"

These words did register with the little girl this time and she opened her eyes and even attempted to move the limbs she had curled into this position so long ago. The movement made her little bones creak audibly and she released a groan, reaching to grab her ankle.

"Oo, that's a sore ankle you've got there," Harm commented as he helped Mac to wrap the insulation blanket around the little girl, after helping her sit up and move out of the tree's recess, "It'll feel better once we get that wrapped up."

Hope now only had half-sensation in either of her feet, complete sensation disappeared somewhere below her heels.

Harm quickly handed over the support bandages to Mac and then went back to the radio in his pack, to call the news into the rest of the search teams and base command. Once he was done, he removed his jacket and he wrapped it around the blankets that were around the child, whom Mac had now lifted into her arms.

"How's she doing?" he asked his partner, quietly.

A shake of her head and a look was all it took to ascertain that they had to get back ASAP, because Hope was in very bad shape. Harm grabbed Mac's pack and his own and they began to hurry their way back to the compound. Soon after, Mac stopped so that Harm could reassess the child, who was now unconscious again, her head slumped into the side of Mac's neck.

"Hope…Hope, honey?" they both roused her, "Can you stay with us? We need you to stay awake, okay?"

The child took some encouraging, but she was more alert when they picked up speed again.

After this, she began shivering violently, so Mac unzipped her jacket and settled Hope against her, stretching her jacket around the child, sharing what warmth she had left in her own body.

OOOO


	7. Chapter 7

So sorry for the delay in posting. I've had no internet for days, so couldn't post or anything! My email inbox is full-to-bursting! LOL! Okay, this is the last chappie...A big thanks goes out to all of the people over at the JAG voting board at teavee. Their ideas and suggestions give me constant inspiration for increasingly outlandish stories! Also big thanks go to all of the people who leave reviews for my stories. You guys are the best! Thank you; GermanJagaholic, Arica Princess of Rivendell, madge622, starryeyes10, verabell, cbw, McRose, scottiedog and jagrules.

OOOO

Part 7

After changing carrying duty twice, they finally arrived back at the retreat, to be met by the paramedics. News had gotten around that they had found Hope, so there was quite a crowd, even though the military officers tried to keep a space around the paramedics so that they could work unimpeded. Of course, the Mattonis wanted to get to their child straight away, but somehow Alan had managed to persuade them to let the paramedics do their job and stay back a ways.

"Ma'am?" one of the paramedics asked Mac, "Please could you help us keep her conscious? She keeps slipping out of it."

Mac spent the next few minutes trying to keep the child awake, as the paramedics checked over her outward injuries and wrapped her in a thermal blanket. Once that was done, they carefully lifted her into the back of the ambulance parked on site, so that all their other duties could be done in a sterile environment. Here, they established the IV that supplied the vital fluids Hope so desperately needed right now. Her temperature was rising as fast as they could get it to, without compromising her condition, so they announced that now was the time to transport her to the nearest medical facility.

With a kiss to the child's forehead, Mac bid her words of encouragement and good fortune, before climbing out of the ambulance, so that the paramedics could proceed to secure all of the equipment.

Harm came forward with a blanket for her and a cup of coffee, but Mac was by now shivering so badly, she spilt some of it over her frozen hands. Harm took it back from her and together they watched Mr. and Mrs. Mattoni being admitted into the ambulance, to accompany their daughter to the hospital.

Once the flashing lights were out of sight, the Admiral came forward to see them, having only just gotten back himself. He was about to tell them, 'well done,' when he caught sight of just how bad they both looked themselves.

"Are you two alright?" he asked them.

Both nodded, but he steered them to where another set of medics, military ones, were treating other officers for severe heat-loss and exhaustion. Mac didn't even get all the way there, before she went down like a sack of stones. AJ had to hold up most of her weight, because Harm was in nearly as bad shape as she was. AJ supervised the medics getting them settled on some field stretchers and treated, before he went to find Bud, Harriet and the rest of his remaining command.

OOOO

When Mac came to, she was ensconced in a nice warm bed in a nearby hospital. She heard voices outside her door, somebody talking to one of the doctors, but didn't really have the strength to open her eyes and see who it was. Sleep was beckoning to her again. The voices barely registered with her before she drifted back into sleep.

OOOO

Nearly four hours later, Mac opened her eyes again to be greeted not only by the sight of her partner, but also by bright flashes of color. It took a second for her eyes to adjust properly, but she soon realized that she was looking at arrangements of bright flowers.

Harm gave her a smile as he took in the look of confusion on her face.

"We've become something like celebrities, over the past few hours," he told her, "When the ambulance arrived here, there were already a bunch of news crews on-site. I should imagine that it's probably twice as bad, by now."

Mac grimaced as she tried to move.

"You okay?" Harm asked, concerned as she settled back against the soft pillows, "Do you want me to call the doctor?"

Mac shook her head, gently, "My…my head's just a kinda sore…I probably shouldn't move it anymore."

"You hit it as you went down," Harm confirmed, "The doctors want to keep us both overnight, just to be safe."

This was one time when Mac wasn't going to argue. She'd never felt this kind of bone-deep fatigue before, so even if she had any desire to, she was pretty sure her arms and legs wouldn't work well enough to get her out of this hospital bed.

"How's Hope?" Mac asked, knowing how serious this must have been for the little girl.

"It was touch and go for the first hour," Harm replied, "But they downgraded her from the ICU then the high-dependency a little while ago. They're confident that she's going to make a full recovery."

"That's good," Mac sighed in relief, "and you? If you're aching anything like I am, I'm sure that it was an ordeal for you to get through here."

"They presented me with my own set of wheels," Harm told her, maneuvering it backwards so that she could see, "I insisted on seeing you, but you've been sleeping for hours now, so I've come and gone a few times."

Mac chuckled, asking, "And does your room look anything like mine?"

"Virtually identical," he laughed, "I was thinking of asking some of the nurses to donate some of the arrangements to other patients here. There's no way all of them are coming home with me."

"That's a good idea," Mac smiled.

"The Mattonis came to thank me, earlier. They came to see you too, but you were fast asleep," Harm told her, jokingly asking, "What have you been doing, catching up on the last four weeks we missed, while the Daniels trial was going on?"

Mac chuckled, but was silenced by the soft look in his eyes that hinted as to his true emotions while she had been unconscious. It was clear that he had been more than just a little bit worried. Without even thinking about it, she made the effort to move her arm to the side of the bed and grasp Harm's hand where it rested.

"This has been something of a nightmare for everybody involved, these past few days, but I'm glad that we were able to help somebody and that we both got through all this okay," she told him.

"Me too," he nodded, "What can I say? We make an incredible team."

FIN


End file.
